I noticed there's a sick bird that's been underneath my feeder for almost two days now. He can fly, but doesn't much. He's soaking wet and often won't even move when the dogs or I get too close. I've had to save him from them a few times now. I'm really worried about him, but everyone is telling me to just leave it be because it might have rabies or the vet would just kill it anyway. I'm disabled so I can't really drive far enough to reach any animal wildlife rescue places and am super sad about the poor little thing. Any advice on what I should do?

It is very rare that a bird would have rabies, so I doubt it's that. I would find a box large enough for the bird to walk around in, along with an old towel lining the bottom. If you can, get another towel and rap the little guy in it. Next part is tricky, find something to keep the box warm but not hot, should be like skin warm. I used a heating pad on warm once for this same reason, but a desk lamp will work too. K so next you have to put him somewhere he wont be bothered but you can still check on him like a garage or laundry room or even a spare room no one uses. Put food and a small dish of water in with him and something to cover the box, I used a thin cloth that I tucked under some books next to the box, that way I could check on the little thing without removing the lid. Note on using a desk lamp to warm animals, you have to turn it off at night so they can sleep. Sometimes all they need is some R&R to get back on their feet.

Along the lines with what Rawr said but one other thing. DO NOT touch that bird with bare hands. Wild birds 90% have mites and sometimes bird fleas. Which can and do carry diseases as well as making the bird itself anemic /ill. Not to mention bird flu.

Do not bring poor baby into the home. I would suggest a garage or unless you have a room seldom used or never used. Or a basement. Leaving it alone may be cruel. But that bird could have a transferable illness so that may be why you were advised not to touch it. Poor thing. My heart breaks for it.

Try calling the local wildlife rehab number--many of them coordinate volunteer local rehabilitators, so there may actually be someone nearby. At the very least, they should be able to give you advice over the phone.

Thanks everyone for your advice it was good just to know that other people cared about animals too. I called the closest wildlife rehab after begging my vet to help who refused and they advised me to put the little guy in a warm box with blankets and see if he heals and if not to drive him down to their facilities about an hour away. I tried to catch him three times without any luck and then sadly when I was finally able to get close enough to him a huge hawk decided to swoop in and get him It sucked a lot and was super sad and scary since the hawk stood taller than my knees and I'm about 5'4. My mom said it came fairly close to clawing me in the head so at least that didn't happen and while I'm really sad I failed the little guy I'm glad he's not suffering anymore and on closer inspection his injuries seemed severe. The hawk was able to get a meal and hopefully the little guy is in a better place. I'm really starting to question keeping the bird feeder at this point

Oh my. Sorry. It makes me wonder if the bird was downed by the hawk in the first place and the hawk lost it but then found the bird again while you were trying to help it. I know around here hawks are very relentless bird hunters. I have pictures of one sitting on my back fence after it had downed a pigeon and I intervened. That hawk sat there all night watching my back door. Next morning bird was still on my fence in a different spot. Long story short. I thought the hawk left so I turned the pigeon loose. Poor pigeon was not fast enough. I felt horrible but at the same time was astonished at the hawks resolve and seemingly sheer intelligence. Wouldn't surprise me if you had close to a similar experience

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